The Grace of Preaching the Lectionary

Today is Christ the King Sabbath - the last Sabbath of the Christian Year. Next Sabbath begins the new year with the season of Advent.

For approximately 13 months now I have been preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary. There are some amazing online resources that are incredibly helpful in preaching the lectionary. My favorite is a site called Text Week. In addition I have found the New Proclamation series of lectionary commentaries extremely helpful and insightful. But nothing replaces simply dwelling in the text and allowing the text to read your context and speak into the congregation's life.

I have been leading my congregation in the observance of Advent for the past 7 years and Lent for about the last 5 years, but this is the first year I have preaching an entire cycle through the lectionary.

I highly recommend this discipline. It is a rich gift that has been given to the church through the centuries. For myself and my congregation, we have found that God has met us in the text in surprising ways. Without fail the text for a particular week (and this year I have been strictly holding to the Gospel reading for the week) has been precisely what our community has needed. You would have to be here to fully appreciate the grace we have found in this.

The lectionary takes the the preacher out of the driver's seat and places the text of scripture in the central role. Rather than me trying to figure out "what my congregation needs to hear" we simply approach the text with hopeful expectation. I have preached more "difficult passages" this year than ever before in 13 years of ministry.

I frequently explain to my congregation what I am doing, but I'm not sure it has become part of their consciousness just yet. Others observe a change without directly referencing the lectionary. One member approached me with great surprise one day, saying that she heard some other preacher speak from EXACTLY THE SAME TEXT on Sunday that I spoke from on Sabbath. "Imagine that!" I thought to myself.

Next Sabbath begins my favorite season of the church year - Advent. It is also the richest season for Seventh-day Adventists. I will hopefully write more about Advent during the next four weeks. Hope is an Advent virtue, after all.

Anyone else out there preaching the lectionary?
If so, what have you learned?
Is anyone tired of trying to be clever week after week?

Comments

[Andrew]

I tried to move to the lectionary at one of my churches but it didn’t really fly... (too many other issue needed dealing with).

I like the idea of the lectionary for several reasons; as you say it puts scripture front and centre with a psalm, an old and new testament reading and a gospel reading. Over three years the congregation gets to hear a lot of scripture, which can’t be bad. It also stops the preacher from getting on his or her hobby horse, instead focussing on making all of scripture relevant to the churches daily life. It also has the effect of trying the church into the larger christian family.

One other resource to consider, "The Expository Times". Not only does it have homiletical notes for each week, but every month it also includes reviews of the latest books in biblical, theological and pastoral studies and articles surveying the current scene. Its an excellent way to stay current after leaving uni/college/seminary and to follow the REL.

[Chad Stuart]

Ryan,
I sent you a couple e-mails with some questions about the lectionary preaching. I then read your post about having problems with your e-mail, if you did not get these e-mails let me know.
Thanks and blessings,
Chad

[Pastor Greg]

There are some advantages -- but as UMC Bishop William Willimon notes, there are some real disadvantages too: "The treatment of the Old Testament is limited and often is determined by tenuous connections to the Gospel, troublesome texts (just the sort of texts that can spur interesting sermons) are often omitted, and the lectionary sometimes cuts and chops texts beyond comprehension." Then too, it doesn't do much with the Book of Acts.

[Ryan Bell]

Funny, one of my favorite lectionary resources is written mostly by Will Willimon.

The lectionary isn't perfect, but it does cover quite a lot of scripture, and for most Adventist pastors who have spent their whole lives writing topical sermons, it seems like a risk worth taking. Like anything, I don't think it has to be a legalistic thing. I am planning to part with the lectionary during the coming summer to do a extended series of topical messages. By my calculations the first 19 chapters of Acts get pretty good coverage. And I often use a larger pericope in my preaching that JUST the small section of text that is the actual reading.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Have you used the lectionary in your preaching? What kind of effect has it had on your congregation?

[Alexander]

Hey Ryan,

I missed this earlier. I just want to mention that as an Adventist who has spent the last year in around 10-12 mainline churches using the lectionary, on average I've heard more scripture than in most of the sermons growing up.

And I've seen some really sharp, creative approaches. Like the guidelines for an artistic commission, the text seems to allow for a good mix of the past and the present.

[Sherman Haywood Cox II]

The lectionary does have issues, but what I like about it is that it forces us to get out of our comfort zone scriptures. It often opens the door to addressing things that have not been addressed in your congregation (at least in congregations that are not used to using it)...It also has the added benefit of your people knowing which scripture you are going to deal with this week (at least they know that it is one of four)...

[Glenn]

"The lectionary takes the the preacher out of the driver's seat and places the text of scripture in the central role. Rather than me trying to figure out "what my congregation needs to hear" we simply approach the text with hopeful expectation. "

Yes, I think it does, too. I've noticed the structure the lectionary imposes on the preacher since I've been attending an Episcopal church. It also helps negate the all too frequent proof texting and jumping around, back and forth, through scripture that typically characterized the SDA services I worshiped in.